Heal the Bay

Experience the Santa Monica Bay

Best Time to Visit

The Santa Monica Pier Aquarium is Heal the Bay’s public marine-education center located beach-level, just below the Carousel at the world famous Santa Monica Pier.

Whether stopping by during our public hours, visiting with a field trip group, or attending a private party, you will be treated to a unique view into the ocean world just steps from our Aquarium’s doors.

The family-friendly facility is home to more than 100 species of marine animals and plants – all found in the Santa Monica Bay. As our guest, you will gain a new appreciation for the sea life of the Bay, and leave inspired to become a steward of this crucial marine environment.

The city of Santa Monica is bustling with development projects, and the area around our Santa Monica Pier Aquarium is at the hub of construction activity. We’re committed to providing updates on construction and links to websites that map the best …

In a step towards better understanding whether our local white shark population needs protection, the Fish and Game Commission unanimously advanced the Northeastern Pacific population of white shark to candidacy on February 6 under the California End…

“We were so ready for this because the teachers at the Aquarium made us comfortable with being in the real ocean. We knew we were safe.”
So said one of my middle school students after snorkeling last spring at the Catalina Island Marine Institute…

Climate change is happening now. Here in Los Angeles- not just in the Arctic. In our backyards, our ocean, our mountains, our beaches. Of course it’s important to keep reducing carbon emissions, but at this point climate change is occurring – we …

As representatives of Heal the Bay, we often get asked: “Is the bay healed yet?” People know we’ve been at this a long time (more than 25 years). While the answer is a qualified “yes,” we still work every day to fulfill our mission to make …

This trashcan tells quite a tale, discovered more than 2,500 miles away from our Santa Monica base on a Hawaiian beach.
Researchers found the intact plastic trashcan emblazoned with Heal the Bay stickers while they were surveying 2011 Japanese tsunam…

Get Crafty!

The gauntlet has been thrown and Cabrillo Marine Aquarium has challenged their neighboring aquaria to enter The Great Duct Tape Whale Contest. Join us at the Santa Monica Pier Aquarium and create duct tape whales.

The Santa Monica Pier Aquarium

Turns 10!

The Santa Monica Pier Aquarium is celebrating its 10-year anniversary! Heal the Bay took over the former UCLA Ocean Discovery Center on March 1, 2003. Join Aquarium staff and volunteers (and of course all the exhibited marine life) for a three-day birthday celebration, beginning with a cake and ice cream party during public hours on Friday, March 1, at 3:00 p.m.

The Santa Monica Pier Aquarium and I reached an important milestone with the beginning of 2013 — we’re celebrating 10 years with Heal the Bay. When UCLA handed over the keys to this hidden gem beneath the Pier on March 1, 2003, I came w…

the Santa Monica Pier AquariuM

CELEBRATES MPAS

Join Heal the Bay’s Santa Monica Pier Aquarium for its annual Underwater Parks Day, celebrating Marine Protected Areas (known as MPAs) in Southern California. The event will feature activities and presentations about the newly designated areas and the marine life they safeguard.